José de San Martín

José de San Martín was an Argentine general and independence leader who helped free Argentina, Chile, and Peru from Spanish rule. His campaigns across the Andes and along the Pacific coast shaped South American independence.

Army of the Andes: The force San Martín organized to cross the Andes and campaign for Chilean independence. It carried his plan from the Río de la Plata into Chile.
Spanish American wars of independence: The early nineteenth-century conflicts that ended Spanish rule across much of the Americas. San Martín’s military career unfolded within this wider continental upheaval.
Simón Bolívar: A Venezuelan military and political leader who helped liberate northern South America from Spanish rule. Their meeting at Guayaquil shaped the final phase of Peru’s independence struggle.
Argentine Declaration of Independence: The 1816 declaration by the Congress of Tucumán that proclaimed independence from Spain. San Martín pressed the United Provinces to declare independence before his Chilean campaign.
Royalist (Spanish American independence): A supporter of continued Spanish monarchical rule in the Americas during the independence wars. Royalist armies were the opponents San Martín sought to defeat across the Andes and Peru.
Crossing of the Andes: The 1817 military operation in which the Army of the Andes crossed mountain passes into Chile. The difficult crossing enabled San Martín’s surprise attack on royalist forces.
Spanish Army: The military forces of the Spanish monarchy, in which San Martín served before joining South American independence movements. His early service gave him professional military experience before he changed sides.
Bernardo O’Higgins: A Chilean independence leader who served alongside San Martín and became Chile’s supreme director. Their military and political partnership sustained the liberation of Chile.
Chilean War of Independence: The conflict from 1810 to 1826 that ended Spanish colonial rule in Chile. San Martín’s victories were decisive in the war’s central phase.
José Gervasio Artigas: A Río de la Plata military and political leader who advocated federalism and resisted central authority. Artigas’s regional federalist project differed from the centralized strategy favored by San Martín’s allies.

Linked from 40 pages